DMK's and AP Target - Hindu Temples

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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Rationalist DMK breaks free, sits down for temple feasts
Jaya MenonPosted online: Wednesday, August 16, 2006 at 0000 hrs Print  Email
CHENNAI, AUGUST 15:<b> On Independence Day, Tamil Nadu’s Cabinet ministers were kept busy. No, not distributing sweets and flags, but inside temples, leaving behind their rationalist masks and reverentially serving samabandhi virundhu (community feast)</b>.

Except for Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, Finance Minister K Anbazhagan, and Power Minister Arcot N Veerasami, <b>the other Cabinet members were drafted for the religious exercises in temples across Chennai and in the outskirts.</b>

Known to be a passionate torchbearer of the rationalist ideologies of Periyar (EV Ramasamy Naicker), the Dravidar Kazhagam founder and parent body of the DMK, Karunanidhi, a professed atheist, has little tolerance for partymen indulging in religious rituals or following moodanambikkai (superstitious beliefs).

Today, however, he stuck to the long-standing practice, directing his Cabinet members to spread across the city temples and conduct the ritualistic ‘community feeding’ on Independence Day.

<b>While his son and the state Local Administration Minister MK Stalin initiated the feast in three temples in the heart of the city, including the Balasubramania Swamy temple, other senior ministers like Ko Si Mani (cooperation), Veerapandi Arumugham (agriculture), Duraimurugan (public works), K Ponmudy (higher education) and KN Nehru (transport) were seen barefoot inside pillared temple interiors in and around Chennai.</b>

The Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker, R Avudaiyappan, was also not spared. He was directed to organise a feast for the poor at the popular Kapaleeshwar temple in Mylapore. In fact, all the 29 ministers spent a good part of their day at temples.

Community feeding by state ministers in temples on Independence Day has been in vogue for some years now. But, the practice sits rather uneasily on the DMK, known to rigidly adhere to its rationalistic principles, or at least appearing to do so. While Karunanidhi is known to crack his whip against ‘‘religious’’ colleagues, of late the DMK’s rationalist image seems to be slipping.

Just a few days after being sworn in to power,<b> Karunanidhi relented to appeals from ‘Hindu’ sections that his government’s scheme to distribute eggs twice a week should be done so on Mondays and Wednesdays instead of the ‘‘auspicious’’ Tuesdays and Fridays</b>.

In May this year, Minister for Cooperation Mani kicked up a storm when he spent a few minutes with the senior Sankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, prime accused in a murder case.

While Karunanidhi expressed ‘‘shock and surprise’’ and said an explanation would be sought from <b>the minister, who even participated in a homam (yagna) organised by the Sankaracharya at the Mutt in Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu, which happens to be Mani’s constituency, the issue was quietly buried</b>.

During his previous tenure (1996-2001) as chief minister, Karunanidhi was known to be quite unbending when it came to dealing with ‘‘religious’’ misdemeanours of his Cabinet and party colleagues. On one occasion Karunanidhi hauled up a minister, Anthiyur Selvaraj, for participating in a religious ritual of walking on burning coals at the famous Bannari Amman temple in Erode district.

Another time, when he saw a former MP, Adi Shanker, sporting a vermillion mark on his forehead, Karunanidhi said he did not expect it from youngsters in the Dravidian movement and regretted that it was ‘‘losing its moorings’’.

However, many of his family members, including his wife Dayalu Aamma and his daughter-in-law, Durga (Stalin’s wife), are known to be devout and visit temples often.

Known for his ‘‘Hindu’’ bashing, Karunanidhi once got into trouble for reportedly calling Hindus ‘‘thieves’’. He hastily clarified that he had merely quoted from a Hindi encyclopedia, published from Varanasi. It defined a Hindu as ‘‘cruel, servant and bandit’’, he said, adding that he chose ‘‘to ignore that definition’’, softening it to mean as ‘‘thieves of hearts’’.
jaya.menon@expressindia.com
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